Improved artificial leg



` leg.

:limi time `D o U GL As BL'VY, `o r i l gattini (tf w#- 'MACOMGEORGIAlfire.

Lezers Parem'lvo. 87,624, lated M01/rch 9,1869.

. IMPROVZID ARTIFICIAL The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patentand making part of the same.

To all whom 'it may conce/rn .v

Be it known that I, DOUGLAS BLY, of Macon, in thel county of Bibb, andState of Georgia, have inventeda' certain new and useful Improvement inArticial Legs,-

and lacings for the same; and I do hereby'declare that the following isafull and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

Figure l is a central vertical section of my improved Figure 2, aviewiofmy improved" lacing attached to Vthe upper socket of the leg.

tendo-Achilles of the natural leg, and a spring, E, is`

employed for producing the reaction of the foot.

The ankle-joint is formed by a rounded bearing, j', restingin a suitablesocket of the foot.

A wooden pivot-pin, a, passes through the rounded bearing j, and theconnection is formed by an open hook, b, on the end of the bolt Gr,Which'latter passes down through the foot, andf-is held by nut "c in theusual manner. A

The great advantage of this arrangement is, that the `connection at thejoint is formed by a Wooden pin' and metallic eye, -instead'of twometallic surfaces, as in other devices. l

By this means, there is less friction and wear, Vno

creaking or jarring noise, and the joint seldom requires oiling, since,whenthe .oil is once applied, it permeates the wood, and furnishes aconstant lubrication. There is also less liability to rust fromdampness.

Iuthe contact of two metallic surfaces, the friction is great, and thewear is very rapid, and a disagreeable creaking noise is'produoed, whichcan hardly be avoided, even by constant lubrication.

rIhe wooden pin is suiiciently strong, as it only serves to sustain theweight of the foot, .the rounded bearing j receiving thedown'pressure inwalking.

Besides the above, the open hook b allows an easy insertion andconnection, and obviates the removal of the joint-.bolt to detach theparts, as in other arrange- .ments 'lhis open hook is essential to theuse ofthe wooden pin, as the latter is not removable.

In the upper part of the leg I locate a tlexible'socke't,

H, niade of strong leather, riveted or otherwise fastan improved jointconened at the rear to the' wood. .This socket is of suitable length toreceive the upper portion of the stump, when amputation is below theknee, and shield the same from rough contact with the Wood. It is ofsomewhat less diameter than the interior space ofthe wooden socket.

The object-of this auxiliary socket is to produce ja greaterbearing-surface, or contact upon the stump, `in all positions,` thancould be secured were the latter to ,rest in a rigidand unyieldingsocket. This it does by being of smaller diameter, and yielding orflexible, and

being attached only at the rear, under which condition Ait is free toadapt itself to the form of the enclosed meinber at every flexion. Forinstance,when the stump presses forward, in the act of stepping, thepressure upon the front of the flexible socket will cause it to close atthe sides around the member, and thereby bind firmly, yet easily, so asto secure'a close and continued connection.

In the same manner, if the stump presses either way to one side, thefront and the opposing side of the socket will close rmly around it;consequently the bearing or pressure of the flexible socket against thestump is equalzed, or distributed over a greater surface, and thereforeis more comfortable to the patientl in walking. It also aids materiallyin Walking, by giv ing a free and easy motion, and making the articialmember, as it were, a iexible and continuous connection of the naturalone.

Where the stump simply rests in an unyielding wooden socket, theconnection is so loose andv irregular, that the artificial member doesnot readily adapt itself to the motions of the natural one; Besides, the

contact is painful and unpleasant, especially under long application. Iremedy these difficulties in amosteffective manner.

The efficiency of the auxiliary socket is in a great degree due to itsbeing of less diameter than the enclosing wooden one, and its beingentirely free to adapt itself to the enclosed stump;

The upper leather socket 0, which binds 'around the thigh, whenamputation is 'below theknee, has heretofore been secured in place byordinary lacing.

I propose to substitute an improved lacing, which isv as follows: I

I 'rivetto one flap or side of the opening ofthe socket,

eyes g g g, formed preferably by doubling strips of sheet.- metal, withsockets formed on the ends. On the other appr side, I similarly attachcatches h It h, preferably also formed from sheet-metal, or othersuitable material, ofthe shape shown.

A suitable cord, p, is attached at the`4 bottom, run through the eyes,and attached at the top, with hooks i t i strung thereon, correspondingin number and po# sition with the catches h h k.

I prefer to form these hooks with double sides, lying ilatwise, thelower side turning down and backward, to form the hook proper,A It,sutlciently closed to form a spring, to prevent unhooking, and the upperside,

" of leather, to which the several loose hooks may be attached to keepthem in place, or the .hooks may be attached in any other suitablemanner. This is clearly shown in iig. 4.

In use, to lace thick leather, such as above described, I make thesockets a a of the eyes and hooks to turn down, so as to come' justopposite the edges of the leather, tlg. 4, and thus dl'aw the said edgesup inline, face to face, without overlapping. For use in connection withthin leather, however, the sockets may stand above, as shown in iig. 5,which form is most conveniently laced, though not necessary to theresult obtained, as ordinary eyelet-holes answer a good purpose in'Ycombination with the hooks, as the effect really depends upon thecombination of'movablehooks with lacings.

' The operation of this lacing will be readily' understood.

The cord being thus secured at both ends, and of the proper length, theloose hooks i are simply carried over, and hooked successively, frombottom to top, into catches h, thereby drawing the edges of tl leleather close together.

The cord, when once arranged of the proper length, retains the partsuniformly the same, or, if at any time it becomes stretched, it can betaken up. This, however, will not often occur; and the facility ofsecuring the hooks, by simply passing them over to the opposite side,insures great facility in fastening and unfasteinng.

In addition to this, I secure, by this arrangement, a greater facilityand expedition in fastening and unfastening, than in any otherattachment with which I am acquainted, where a lacing or cord isemployed, for I have simply to hook or unhook on one side, whereas, inall other lacings, the parts mustbe fastened or unfastened on bothsides, for instance, where the cord is wreathed from side to side, overhooks.

InV addition to the above, in my case, the cord passing through closedsockets, or eyes, it cannot escape,

- whereas, when open hooks are employed, a slight slack allows the cordto escape, and if it escapes from one, it

readily escapes from all. This sometimes occurs when for the purposespecified.

thewearer is walking, and Aproduces much inconvenrence.A v

In shoe-lacings, as well as the leather lacings of legs, a plan hasybeen devised of passing a single cord alternately, from side to side,over points or hooks, and then drawing up at the top to 'close theflaps. This, however, is not found to work well in practice, owing tothe fact that the tops will close first, and then the friction is sogreat, as the distance increases from the power, that the bottom of theslit will not be closed, or at least the closing will be veryimperfectly done.

I obviate all difficulty of this kind, for the loose hooks drawlaterally from side to side, at but slight distances from each other,all the way up, being in this respect as effective as but-toning, orother well-known methods of fastening, while the simplicity andexpedition of attaching and detaching are unrivalled.

The employment of the strap m, connecting the hooks, enables theoperator to easily apply said hooks, even in the dark, Without trouble,since it gauges their position relatively with the catches.

What I claim as my invention,\and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The combination, With the ankle-joint, of the wooden pin a and openmetallic hook b, arranged as described, and operating in the manner andfor the purpose specified.

' 2. The combination, with the leg B, of the enclosed flexible socket H,of less diameter than the Wooden socket, and otherwise arranged, in themanner and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of hooks with cord p and eyes and catches g hf, ortheir equivalents, substantially as herein set forth. l

4. The combination of the connecting-strap m with the loose hooks i andcatches 7L, in the manner and' for the purpose specified.

5. The sockets n a, with the edges of' the leather,A

when combined with the cord p, in the manner and In lwitness whereof, Ihave hereunto signed my name, in the presence of two subscribingwitnesses. DOUGLAS BLY.

Witnesses:

R. F. Oscoop, W. J. Orr-EELMAM

